Student Resources | Syllabus | Grading | Learning Outcomes
Dates | Topic | Text Reference |
---|---|---|
Meeting One | Introduction: Overview of the Course, Syllabus, Grading Policy, Zoom Etiquette, Technological Skills | |
Lecture One: Introduction to Earth Science What is Earth Science? Earth's Spheres. Deep Time. Scales of Measurement. Earth's Systems. The Nature of Scientific Inquiry, The Scientific Method Rock of the Day: Granite Book of the Day: The Story of Earth by Robert Hansen | Chapter 1 | |
Geology | ||
Fri January 26th Meeting Two | Lecture Two: Matter and Minerals Definition, Atomic Structure, Properties, Abundance, Mining | Chapter 2 |
Lecture Three: Rocks; Materials of the Solid Earth The Rock Cycle, Igneous, Metamorphic, Sedimentary, Ores Rock of the Day: Amethyst Book of the Day: The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks by Donald Prothero | Chapter 3 | |
Fri February 2nd Meeting Three | Lecture Four: Plate Tectonics Continental Drift, Plate Boundaries, Hot Spots, Mechanisms | Chapter 4 |
Lecture Five: Earthquakes and Earth's Interior Faults, Foreshocks and Aftershocks, Seismology, Scales, Tsunamis, Subsidence, Earth's Layers Rock of the Day: Blue Schist Book of the Day: After the Quake by Haruki Murakami | Chapter 5 | |
Fri February 9th Meeting Four | Lecture Six: Volcanoes and Other Igneous Activity Flows, Gases and Pyroclastics, Types of Volcanoes, Volcanic Landforms, Plate Tectonics and Vulcanism | Chapter 6 |
Lecture Seven: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building Folds, Faults, Types of Mountain Ranges, Isostasy, Joints Rocks of the Day: Scoria, Pumice, Obsidian and Basalt Book of the Day: Volcano Watch by Toni Dwiggins | Chapter 7 | |
Fri February 16th Meeting Five | Lecture Eight: Weathering, Soil, Mass Movement Soil Formation, Soil Classification, Soil Erosion, Mass Wasting - Controls and Triggers | Chapter 8 |
Lecture Nine: Running Water and Ground Water The Hydrologic Cycle, River Systems, Work From Running Water, Erosion, Deposition, Floods, Groundwater: Storage and Movement of Groundwater, Springs and Wells, Contamination, Subsidence, Latitude, Longitude, Topological Maps Rock of the Day: Sandstone Book of the Day: Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner | ||
Fri February 23rd Meeting Six | Lecture Ten: Glaciers, Deserts, and Wind Glacial Erosion, Landforms, Glacial Deposits, Ice Ages, Evolution of a Desert, Dunes | Chapter 10 |
Lecture Eleven: Geologic Time Relative Dating, Law of Superposition, Cross-Cutting Relationships, Inclusions, Principle of Original Horizontality, Unconformities, Disconformity, Fossils, Radiometric Dating, The Geologic Timescale Rock of the Day: Morton Gneiss Book of the Day: Atlas of a Lost World by Craig Childs | Chapter 11 | |
Fri March 1st Meeting Seven | Lecture Twelve: Evolution of Earth What Makes Earth Habitable?, Birth of a Planet, Origin and Evolution of the Atmosphere and Oceans, Geological Timescale | Chapter 12 |
Lecture Thirteen: The Ocean Floor Mapping the Ocean Floor, Continental Margins, Deep-Ocean Basins, Oceanic Ridge System Rock of the Day: Banded Iron Formation Book of the Day: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte | Chapter 13 | |
Fri March 8th | Exam One (Geology, Ocean Floor) | Chapters 1 to 13 |
Oceanography | ||
Fri March 15th Meeting Nine | Lecture Fourteen: Ocean Water and Ocean Life Composition of Sea Water, Variations in Temperature and Density, Ocean Life, Ocean Productivity | Chapter 14 |
Lecture Fifteen: The Dynamic Ocean Ocean Circulation, Ocean Waves, Coastal Features | Chapter 15 | |
Meteorology | ||
Fri March 22nd Meeting Ten | Lecture Sixteen: The Atmosphere; Composition, Structure and Temperature Weather and Climate, Height and Structure of the Atmosphere, Ozone Hole, Greenhouse Effect, Earth-Sun Relationships, Mechanisms of Heat Transfer, Cloud Cover and Albedo, Electromagnetic Spectrum | Chapter 16 |
Lecture Seventeen: Moisture, Clouds and Precipitation Phase Changes of Water, Relative and Absolute Humidity, Dew Point, Stability and Instabilty of Air Masses, Classification of Cloud Types, Precipitation | Chapter 17 | |
No Class March 29th - Spring Break | ||
Fri April 5th Meeting Eleven | Lecture Eighteen: Air Pressure and Wind Measuring Air Pressure, Idealized Global Circulation, Jet Streams, Local Winds, Land and Sea Breezes | Chapter 18 |
Lecture Nineteen: Weather Patterns and Severe Storms Types of Air Masses, Fronts, Cyclones and Anti-cyclones,Severe Storms: Thunderstorms, Tornados, Hurricanes | Chapter 19 | |
Fri April 12th Meeting Twelve | Lecture Twenty: World Climates and Global Climate Change Types of Climates, Human Impact on Global Climate, Climate Feedback Mechanisms, Past and Future Climate | Chapter 20 |
Astronomy | ||
Fri April 19th Meeting Thirteen | Lecture Twenty-One: Origin of Modern Astronomy Early Greeks, Ptolemaic System, Copernican System, Kepler's Laws, Galileo, Constellations, Rotation, Revolution, Precession, Phases of the Moon | Chapter 21 |
Lecture Twenty-Two: Touring Our Solar System Terrestrial Planets, Jovian Planets, The Moon, Asteroids, Comets, Meteoroids | Chapter 22 | |
Fri April 26th Meeting Fourteen | Lecture Twenty-Three: Light, Telescopes and the Sun Nature of Light, Spectroscopy, Doppler Effect, Telescopes, Structure and Composition of the Sun | Chapter 23 |
Lecture Twenty-Four: Beyond the Solar System Stellar Brightness, Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram, Variable Stars, Interstellar Matter, Stellar Evolution | Chapter 24 | |
Fri May 3rd Meeting Fifteen | Review for Departmental Final | Chapter 14-24 |
Fri May 10th Meeting Sixteen | Departmental Final Exam at Wright College | See List of Topics |